May 17, 2012

When it all comes down to it, article writing, in plain words, is slave labor for cents with your wholehearted approval. Being one of the online writers you are hooked on the slow movement upwards of cents and there is some kind of perverted pleasure in waking up the following morning and seeing that the site you write for has given you three cents overnight. Wow! What a prize. But you are so addicted to the whole process that even when you do realize that you can earn more money packing shelves at the supermarket, you still can’t stop. I’m one of those addicts, addicted to the writing process since childhood. So it must be obvious to you, the reader that this is not for the money. We would starve if we looked at it to pay for a bag of groceries let alone the rent.

What is in it for writers?

A huge feeling of satisfaction because you are doing something which can potentially help people who need advice in all areas of their life, including marriage, dating, religion, relationships, society, culture and can virtually write about anything you want to know more about. If you are not a technical writer there are a whole lot of categories you can peruse and investigate. If you do this every day you see other people’s writing style, how they interpret certain things, how they deal with a problem and the advice they would give to friends. In all this mix of writers there are specialists, doctors, psychologists and people who do this because they feel good that they are helping someone out there. It is a do it yourself volunteering situation and more and more writers are doing it.

Homemade psychology

Another advantage of online writing is that you don’t have to be in an office and can be anywhere with your laptop; in a café, in the library, in your bedroom or office, or sitting under a tree. If you want to write about God, the environment, how to successfully date a man or get rid of one you can write 400, 500 and 1000 word articles to be published on the net. Some new writers looking to hone their craft learn how to write better in a familiar online environment. They pose questions and write answers and comments. One of the questions posed today by a young woman and answered almost by twenty writers, was what she should do about her mother who favors her sister and makes her feel insignificant. It was interesting, depending on the culture, to see the comments which were given. Not all sites have comments and answers, but at MyLot you can go haywire with all the subjects to write about.

Whether the film is a blockbuster with guns and machines or a small art house film, the same work has to be done. Here are some of the duties of a skilled director:

• He is offered the script and he reads it through and thinks about it. Now that he has the gist of the story, he reads it again and makes copious notes.

• His notes include some ideas he has for the film, how to shoot it, which angles, how many, and possible edit points for the scenes.

• He draws up a budget which is time consuming as it entails going out to locations to see if it is viable to shoot there. His assistant is with him and makes a list of permits to be obtained.

• The director meets with the actors and start with the audition and rehearsal process.

• On a second visit to the locations, he makes more notes and permission has to be obtained from homeowners and sometimes even the police for big hectic shoots.

• The director and the creative producer go out to the sites to ensure the site is viable and have permission to shoot there. The editor is with the director at this point to discuss viable editing points in the film.

• The director and the producer sit down with the caterers for the production and draw up an eating plan, how many actors, how many days of shooting, how much food.

• The director sits down with the art director and takes a look at what he has proposed for the different sets and he and the producer estimate the cost.

• The director talks to the first assistant director about how many days for the shoot, and she draws up a production schedule which includes every scene.

• The director also meets with the sound guy and the musicians to discuss the music end of the film and they agree on a price.

• The cameraman is the head of the crew and sits down with both the director, creative producer and the sound guy to discuss stock, scenes, and agree how the film will be shot.

This is only the beginning of a nightmarish eighteen or twenty six days. Things can go wrong. Production assistants can lose the beat. Laptops are open on trestle tables and schedules and sides are printed. There are meetings every day in pre production and the director and creative producer get hardly any sleep. A million things still need to be done before the camera is finally switched on. At this time the director is jacked up and ready to go.